Legendary Nigeria defender, Taribo West, has revealed that some of his Super Eagles teammates sneaked women into their hotel rooms a night before their round of 16 clash against Denmark at 1998 World Cup in France.
The Eagles were overwhelming favourites against Denmark but put up a lacklustre performance, and were humiliated 4-1 by the 1992 European champions at Stade de France, Saint-Denis.
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Prior to the game against Denmark, the Eagles has topped their group, finishing with six points, following wins against Spain (3-2) and Bulgaria (1-0).
In their final group game against Paraguay which was an inconsequential tie, the Eagles lost 3-1.
And recalling what transpired the night before the game, West claimed the players were fatigued on match day, hence their disappointing performance.
“I read reports about Eagles visiting nightclubs and driving limousines during the World Cup in France, honestly, I don’t know about that,” West told The PUNCH.
“But what I know is that some players sneaked women into camp, I saw that. The women were Africans who came to watch the tournament and fell in love with our team, because of the way we played in the group stage. So, it was easy for these players to woo them to their rooms.
“That is why on match day, you could see a lot of the players didn’t have the strength to curtail the Danish players.
“They were tired after overworking themselves the night before with the women. I was yelling at them on the pitch, I was very angry with them.
“They did all these because they thought we were going to beat Denmark.”
Denmark went on to face Brazil in a tough quarter-final encounter and lost 3-2.
4 Comments
Well, I heard about this mess years ago, but dismissed it. If this is true, then the team got what it deserved. This is the kind of nonsense that can never happen under Rohr. The discipline and focus that the team has now, which is a big reason why they have been doing so well, is largely attributable to Rohr. Those that want Rohr out at all costs, BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR! Lest we go from a team that has the potential to be Afcon 2021 champions and possible semifinalists at the Qatar 2022 mundial, to a team where the players have their priorities misplaced, a team where players choose to fornicate before a world cup knock-out game, a team that will inevitably nosedive back into the murky basement of the world football rankings! Let’s be guided!
Not forgetting the “Atlanta clique” Vs the “Tunisia clique” infighting in camp.
Nigeria has had a chequered history of pressing the self destruct buttons when things seem to be going the right way for us.
We are yet spoiling for another at the moment which might see a potential back to back AFCON trophy and a WC qfinal position become another case of “what would have been” after a decade or 2.
Hopefully we will learn someday and allow logic override petty parochia, tribal and racial sentiments.
I totally agree with you guys @deo & @drey… one thing this nation has penchant for is the capacity to use the self-destruct button at will and I pray God help and save us from that individually and collectively as a nation…
Happy Easter!!!
The root of Nigerians problem till today is indiscipline.
Even, corruption is rooted in I discipline.